The Dark Corners Of Light
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: When life becomes hell, you lose trust in people... but when a young child is saved by a kind hearted stranger, she starts to realise that there's still good people in this world.
1. Chapter 1: Late At Night…

**A/N: This story is graphic in nature as the child character's past in it will be explained in future chapters, reader discretion is advised.**

The screaming had made Amanda stop walking, the 25 year old running to where it was echoing from… she couldn't think, couldn't process it… she just lunged.

The man screamed as the 5'1" brunette jumped on his back and bit him right on his left shoulder as she put him in a headlock.

"Get the hell off that child!" Amanda yelled, slamming her fists and elbows against the man's skull as he reeled back from the small and beaten up child on the ground, now trying to wrestle the angry woman off of him.

Taking advantage of the distraction, the girl ran out of the alleyway and as far away as she could… the fight was briefly stopped by Amanda being tossed hard onto the ground but she jumped back up and continued beating on him before locking him in a headlock and locking her legs around him tightly to keep him down.

When he had finally gotten back up to his feet and had gotten the tiny wrestler off him, he slammed her head against the brick wall and she went limp as she hit the ground, the man struggling to catch his breath.

"Damn it… SYL- no, gone…" The guy muttered to himself, yelling out in the middle. He considered what to do about the woman at his feet whose hair was now becoming stained with her own blood… in the end, he removed one of his fingerless gloves and trapped it between the brick wall and the injury on Amanda's head, before heading quickly away from the scene and into the night.

Amanda finally stirred around when she felt someone's hands on her face and opened her eyes, seeing a familiar pair of blue ones and tried to talk, Finn lightly shushing her.

"Stay still…" Finn whispered, dialing 911.

Amanda tried to talk again but it came out as a pain filled scream when she could feel the agony taking over her head and back, the leather jacket draped over her to keep her warm in the bitter January chill.

She looked around for the little girl but saw no sign of her… and Finn saw the terrified look in her eyes before she lost consciousness again, causing him to panic and stay by her side as she was put on the backboard, then on a gurney and into an ambulance.

When Amanda woke up again, she was under warming blankets, in a hospital gown and attached to an IV drip, her head stitched and bandaged as she looked up at Finn.

"There was someone… attacking a kid. Where did..." Amanda said quietly as Finn held her right hand between his hands.

"Didn't see anyone else, lass. Small or big." Finn replied, glancing up at the monitor as Amanda's readings seemed to stablize a bit now that she was conscious.

"He had to have… ran off… I saw what he was doing and I got so angry at him… I was ready to kill him..." Amanda says as she tried to sit up, Finn stopping her. When she had been brought into the ER, her body temperature was 94.3° and had only gone up to 95.8° which explained the warming blankets.

"Well… it seemed like he made some attempt to help you, there was a glove against the wound in your head when I found you." Finn says.

Amanda cringed as the ache felt worse… on top of the hypothermia, she had a concussion and several broken ribs along with the bruises on her back. Her small body hurt like hell and Finn carefully took her into his arms when he saw tears forming.

"What if they don't find her? She's out there all alone in the cold…" Amanda whispered, her head resting on his right shoulder as the stitches were on the right side of her head.

Outside near where it had happened, Sami and Bayley stopped when they saw the blood and the small charm bracelet that Sami had given Amanda back on Christmas.

"The… oh god, no…" Sami says while he'd crouched down and picked up the bracelet, standing back up.

"Sir, what exactly happened?! Where's our friend?!" Bayley asked after finding an officer.

"Your friend is in the hospital, she was the second victim of the assault. The first victim disappeared, all we know about her is that it's a young individual, possibly a child." The officer says.

Bayley let out a horrified cry as tears formed, Sami pulling her close to him to comfort her.

"Why would anyone hurt a child?! It's damn wrong!" Bayley said through her tears.

"There are a lot of sick people out there, Bayley…" Sami whispered as they held each other before they left. Reaching the ER, they found Amanda and Finn, Amanda looking at them through half open eyes because of the pain she was in.

"They're looking for her…" Amanda managed to say as the two sat down on the other side, Sami lightly rubbing her left arm.

Stumbling into the ER, Dean was drunk as Roman dragged him in.

"It's just a scratch, the nail wasn't even that rusty!" Dean slurred, pointing to the wound on his right arm.

"Yeah and the booze didn't contain that much alcohol either, I suppose!" Roman says sarcastically.

"You're such a buzzkill… bah! No wonder Mandy left! Where… where would she be this late at night anyway?" Dean replies, Roman about to respond but both saw a tearful Bayley walk over to them.

"Bayley, what's wrong, kiddo?" Roman asks.

"I suggest sobering him up… Mandy's hurt badly." Bayley said quietly, Roman's and Dean's eyes widening in horror.

"Who did it?!" Roman asked through gritted teeth, anger surging through him.

"We don't know. Both the attacker and the first poor girl Amanda was trying to save disappeared." Finn says.

Roman followed them into the room, Dean forcing himself to sit down and sober up as Roman rested his right hand on the left side of Amanda's face.

"Roman…" Amanda whispered, trying to open her eyes more.

"Hey you… no point asking how you're feeling, it's… pretty obvious." Roman says, trying to joke a little.

"Yeah… this world is fucked up at times." Amanda says as Roman lightly kissed her on her forehead, her skin still slightly chilled.

Out in the waiting room, Dean walked back to the phone after forcing himself to throw up the alcohol before picking up the phone at the nurses station and dialing John's number.

"Hello?" John answered.

"John, you need to get to the ER now." Dean said, his voice hoarse… and John knew right away who was in trouble.

"How bad is my sister hurt, Dean?" John asked.

"It's bad, John…" Dean says, the call ending and he knew John was on his way over.


	2. Chapter 2: Always There

The curtain was forced open and John immediately walked over, sitting down and reaching over to his sister… Amanda was asleep and flinched slightly when he touched her, John knowing from her cry that the full impact of the trauma was setting in.

"It's okay, Mandy… it's okay, no one's ever gonna hurt you again." John whispered.

Sami was waiting outside and looked to his left, seeing Finn… and seeing blood and glass lodged in his right hand, knowing he had punched the mirror.

"You're pissed off but hurting yourself isn't gonna help Mandy." Sami says quietly.

"That son of a bitch left her in a freezing alleyway to die… all she was trying to do was save a child." Finn growled, yanking the shards out.

His hand patched up, he walked into the room and sat down, Amanda opening her eyes halfway and once again out of it from the Hydrocodone.

"Just heard they got a DNA match on the blood… they're onto the bastard." Finn says, his hand rested on her arm and a few hours having passed.

"I hope they lock him up for good…" Amanda says, her head no longer in throbbing pain but a dull ache. She didn't feel as bad but she couldn't feel her legs as they were limp. "The others… they know by now, don't they?"

"Yeah, they do… as soon as he heard you were okay and knew you were in safe hands, Seth went off into the city, looking for the girl." Finn answered.

"Sounds like him…" Amanda says as she rested her head on Finn's shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her after stretching out next to her.

In the city at nearly 8 in the morning, Seth stopped when he heard the scared cries and carefully approached the small girl curled into a ball on the ground.

"Who are you?" She asked after seeing him when he crouched down to her.

"Seth… I'm a friend of the lady who… saved you." Seth says softly, the girl turning over and sitting up a bit.

"Where is she, is she okay?" The girl asked as he put his jacket on her to keep her warm.

"She's safe… what's your name, kiddo?" Seth says, asking the last part as he cradled her into his arms and stood up to his feet.

"Sylvia…" The girl answered, rubbing her arms as she shivered… arms which Seth noticed were startlingly thin and boney.

Seeing that broke his heart as he took her to the nearby rented Nissan Skyline and put her in the passenger seat.

"Are we gonna go see her?" Sylvia asked after Seth buckled her in.

"We're gonna get you fixed up first, kiddo… but it'll be the same building, possibly just across the hall… and I think she'd kill me if I didn't at least let the two of you see each other, let you both know the other is safe…" Seth says, trailing off as he noticed a wetness on the backrest of the seat and carefully looked closer, seeing that there was a deep gash across the back of Sylvia's left side shoulder and on the inner side of that same arm's upper half.

Speeding to the ER, he took her into it… when she was being fixed up, she held onto his right hand as tears fell.

"She… she's the reason I got away, she started hurting him. She even bit him." Sylvia says quietly.

"They're gonna find him, Sylvia… don't worry." Seth whispers, lightly brushing her hair back.

"I hope so… NO!" Sylvia said, calmly at first but then screaming the end and darting behind Seth's legs as a nurse approached with a needle. What made it worse in Seth's mind was the fact that the nurse hadn't even been coming to them, heading past them to one of the treatment rooms. Sylvia had just seen the needle and that was it.

Seth picked her up and cradled her to him, facing away from the doorway as she cried into him… when she was calmed, he found the room that Amanda was in on the 5th floor and Sylvia immediately reached out for her, the two holding each other.

"Shh… it's okay, you're safe here…" Amanda whispered as Sylvia noticed her bruises and bandages.

"He… did that to me as well…" Sylvia says, Amanda glancing up at Seth, asking to know how Sylvia had been when he found her.

"Right arm and leg gashes… deeper wound in her shoulder where the knife was jammed." Seth answered.

"It was too much… I yanked it out, there was so much…" Sylvia started to say, stopping and just resting her head on Amanda's arm with her eyes closed.

Amanda lightly stroked Sylvia's hair and kissed her on her forehead, tears streaming down her own face before she brushed them away as Finn sat back down next to her, his blue eyes widened with horror when he saw how small Sylvia was.

"Is she… hey, are you hungry?" Finn asked, crouching down to Sylvia's level when her eyes opened.

"It's not hard to see, is it?" Sylvia asked, glancing at her left side hand. "He never let me…"

"Let's go see what we can find, okay? I promise we'll be right back." Roman says, Sylvia climbing into his arms before they left… and Amanda looked down, trying to hide her tears.

"It's just wrong… for _anyone_ to look like that, let alone a child… I don't blame her for trying to run away." Seth says, remembering how Sylvia had briefly managed to dip into a few minutes of sleep on the journey to the ER and the whole time, she'd been muttering things no child should even know the meaning of, let alone have to say.

"She should be in a loving home, not being treated like a punching bag…" Amanda said when she finally looked up, Finn's hands on both sides of her face and brushing the tears away.

In the cafeteria, Sylvia was eating as she and Roman talked.

"Mandy is the first person to protect me in a long time… she's a really sweet person." Sylvia says, looking up at Roman.

"Someone like you should always have nice people around them." Roman says.

"I used to… my mommy and daddy, I… don't remember… then I had my new mama and new dada. I liked that… But then new mama had to go away… then new dad stopped being nice. Then he kept me in my room all day, he stopped letting me eat, he stopped…" Sylvia explained. For the first half, she'd been almost cheerful with those memories, but soon toned down when it got more recent and started tearing up. "... Stopped caring…"

Roman took her into his arms and held her as she cried into him… his heart was breaking for her, she wasn't much older than Joelle.


	3. Chapter 3: In Search Of

In the room later, Roman had explained it after talking on the phone with Galina and Joelle.

"You want to adopt me?" Sylvia asked.

"You need a place to call home, a family to call your own, people who won't hurt you… Sylvia, you don't have to ever go back to that man, I promise." Roman said, kissing Sylvia on her head. She looked up at him before jumping into his arms, clinging to him.

Amanda looked up at them and smiled… she was happy to see Sylvia able to trust people around her.

Out in the frigid winter afternoon, Sami had walked out of the nearby coffee shop when he saw officers shoving a handcuffed man into the back of a squad car.

"You ain't getting away with this one, the blood in her mouth identified you!" An older officer said, the man putting up more resistance.

"That bitch should've stayed out of it!" The man yelled, which angered Sami.

But he kept it controlled long enough and texted Finn.

' _They got the son of a bitch.'_

' _Good… I hope he rots in prison.'_ Finn replied before looking over at Amanda, who was struggling to stay awake. "It's okay… they got him." He whispered, lightly stroking Amanda's hair before kissing her on her forehead as she drifted off into sleep.

When Roman and Sylvia checked on them later after Sylvia was in clothes that would keep her warm, the two as well as Dean, who they had met up with, found Amanda and Finn curled up in the hospital bed, Finn's arms around Amanda.

"He has barely left her side…" Roman says quietly.

"That's because he loves her but he won't admit it." Dean whispers, Sylvia looking at him.

"My old mama wouldn't leave me a lot either." Sylvia says quietly.

"My mom wouldn't either… she raised me on her own. When I got enough money, I got her into a nicer neighborhood." Dean says, Sylvia smiling at that.

Dean walked over quietly and rested his hand on Amanda's shoulder, Amanda's sleepy eyes opening and looking at him before she saw Sylvia and smiled.

"You look better… warmer." Amanda whispers, trying to sit up but out of instinct, Finn held onto her tighter.

"Should we wake him?" Sylvia whispered to Roman.

"You want to wake up the demon?" Roman asked in the same quiet tone, Sylvia thinking before stepping forward and pouncing onto Finn, grabbing onto his waist and yelling "UNCLE SATAN!"

"You okay, little one?" Finn asked, checking on Sylvia.

"He asked me if I wanted to wake you up… so I did. Called you the demon." Sylvia said with a slight giggle as she stood back up.

"Gonna have to explain that one later, kiddo." Amanda says as she and Sylvia hugged.

"I know why… I saw your wristband." Sylvia whispered.

Amanda knew which one, the one with the _Demon King_ logo on it… she carefully sat up, cringing as moving around jarred her broken ribs and Sylvia lightly brushing Amanda's tears away.

Out in the hallway, Sami hadn't counted on seeing Kevin Owens and walked over.

"It's all over the news… are they okay?" Kevin asks quietly.

"Far from it… but they got the guy who did this. Saw him being taken away in a squad car." Sami says.

The two headed to the room, Sylvia hiding her face into Roman's shoulder as she was startled to see Kevin… Amanda looked at Kevin and then at Finn, who Sylvia could tell didn't like Kevin at all.

"Just for a few minutes…" Amanda says quietly, Finn kissing her on her forehead before he and the others walked into the hallway and Kevin sat down. "Hey…" She said, unsure of where to start as the two hadn't spoken civilly in nearly 3 years.

"Heard about what you did… that took a lot of bravery." Kevin says.

"I'm no hero, Kevin… I wasn't gonna let it go on. She deserves a better life." Amanda says.

"Well put it this way, where do you think that would've gone if you hadn't stepped in there? You're the only reason that poor soul is probably still in one piece, let alone safe and protected." Kevin says.

"Yeah… she just… it made me think how easily it could've been one of the other kids getting beaten up by some stranger. I really hope he does go away for the rest of his life… something tells me he'd welcome a lethal injection, see it as an easy way out." Amanda says, trying to sit up straighter but Kevin gently stopped her.

They had both fought at the Royal Rumble event last night but that was scripted, even if their tempers flared a bit… but seeing her battered and beaten up, it made him angry.

"I'm gonna let you get some rest…" Kevin says, lightly rubbing Amanda's shoulder before leaving and glancing at Sylvia. "I have kids of my own… I would've done the same thing that Mandy did."

Sylvia nodded as Kevin left before following the others into Amanda's room and seeing her and Finn hugging.

 **A few days later…**

Stopping outside the house in Pensacola, Roman looked over his shoulder in the driver's seat and saw that Finn and Amanda had fallen asleep before looking at Sylvia, who saw them too and smiled.

"Ready to go meet them?" Roman asked, referring to Joelle and Galina.

"Do… they know?" Sylvia asked, a bit nervous about meeting her new family.

"They know." Roman says, reaching over and lightly smacking Amanda's shoulder, waking her up.

"When did we crash out?" Amanda asked with a sleepy yawn, Finn rubbing his eyes as he woke up.

"Hour and a bit ago. She did too for about a half hour." Roman answered, nodding towards Sylvia.

"I did, but… I ended up there again." Sylvia said quietly, fidgeting with a small hangnail on her right thumb.

Amanda reached over, carefully pulling Sylvia into her arms before everyone got out and into the house.

"Daddy!" Joelle squealed as she ran to Roman, who picked the seven year old up into his arms before she saw Sylvia. "Hi there, Sylvia." She says, reaching her left hand out to Sylvia's right hand and lightly squeezing it.

"H… hey there." Sylvia replied, a bit nervously but managing to smile.

When the two were in the living room eating lunch, Galina saw how some worry still lingered in Amanda's eyes and how she glanced over her shoulder thinking that the attacker would charge in… without any hesitation, she took the younger woman into her arms and the two hugged.

"He's not gonna come back…" Galina whispered after they let go.

Amanda nodded… but she knew that trauma had a way of messing with the mind.


	4. Chapter 4: Not So Calm

_Amanda had been walking in the park not too far from the house when she was knocked down from behind, looked up and saw the rage filled stare of Sylvia's abuser, who immediately had his hands on her throat as she clawed at him to try to get free._

" _Where the hell is my daughter?!" The man growled, loosening his grip when Amanda kicked him between his legs after he dragged her up._

" _You're not getting anywhere near Sylvia after what you've done, how you treated her… you sick son of a bitch." Amanda said, rage lacing her voice and her dislocating his index fingers, causing him to scream and take his hands off her. "She never did anything to you, why did you terrorize her?! People like you shouldn't be anywhere near children!" She yelled, the man looking at her and laughing evilly._

" _Well she ain't gonna misbehave anymore, is she? Good as gold, people like me deserve a fucking roll of honour!" The man said after his laughter stopped._

" _You're sick… any man who beats children and women is absolute scum!" Amanda says, the man punching her in the face._

" _You said it, bitch… it's a horror to society and by the gods, I know it!" The man growled._

" _Did you kill Sylvia's mother?!" Amanda asked, remembering what Sylvia said about her mom going away._

" _Oh, you poor thing, you misunderstood… I'm not her dad, no way would I let myself be that. My ex woman wanted to adopt, I just went with her, Sylvia's real parents are both dead, accident at a gas station when the girl was just 5. Apparently, very apparently, the psycho docs concluded that it was so horrific to her that her brain opted to completely forget what happened, one day she was with them and the next, poof. Gone like magic." The man explained._

" _As... horrific as that is, you didn't answer me." Amanda said._

" _Not exactly killed but… I may have had her dealt with. Besides, she actually is probably dead by now." The man finally answered._

 _Amanda's rage boiled over and her hands were around his throat, choking him… but then she felt the knife plunge into her back and fell to the ground, her eyes slowly closing…_

Amanda's eyes snapped open, her feeling arms around her and remembering that after settling in and getting cleaned off, she had fallen asleep next to Finn.

"Where is she?" Amanda managed to ask, shaking with terror.

"With Roman and Galina for tonight. They didn't finish constructing the second bed yet as well as wanting to keep an eye on her overnight…" Finn started to explain before stopping as he saw Amanda's terror and pulled her in closer to him, his more free left hand stroking along her side as he'd laid down on his right side, her on her left so his right arm was beneath her.

"He said… he didn't directly do it. And it just made me so angry that I…" Amanda said before burying her head into his shoulder.

Amanda refused to close her eyes… and when Roman walked in to check on them, that was how he found her.

Roman let them be, heading to check on Sylvia, Joelle and Galina… letting them sleep, he wandered into the living room and saw a text from his cousin Jimmy.

' _It's all over the fucking news, how are they?!'_

' _Staying with me… Sylvia's asleep but I just checked on Mandy and she had a nightmare.'_ Roman replied.

' _That'll happen after what she saw, whoever that guy is, he's all the way messed up!'_

' _He is, doing that to a child.'_ Roman replied, seeing a small shadow and knowing it was one of the three… when he turned, he saw Joelle with tears in her eyes.

"Why did that man hurt Sylvia, Daddy?" Joelle asked as Roman picked her up and put her in his lap, his arms around her.

"I don't think there'll ever be an explanation from him as to why, Jojo… but she's safe with us now." Roman says, kissing Joelle on her forehead.

"She's scared, Daddy… she was crying in her sleep." Joelle whispered.

"She was yesterday too… I don't think she can close her eyes without seeing it, but you know what the best medicine for that is? Family, being loved, knowing she can turn to people when it happens. That's all of our jobs, Jojo." Roman says, halfway through the two parting from their hug but his hands still rested on her shoulders as he spoke.

Picking her up, he took her to the room and the two fell asleep next to Sylvia and Galina, Joelle wrapping her right arm around Sylvia and hugging her.

When the morning sun fluttered through the curtains, Amanda didn't even notice it as Roman checked on her and a half asleep Finn.

"You watch out for her at night? Dean does the same thing." Roman says quietly.

"Sleep's not always easy, especially after what happened. Their minds are frazzled…" Finn says, feeling Amanda's head stir around as it was resting on his right shoulder before her eyes opened. Out of habit, Roman tickled Amanda's right foot and she groaned and pulled the covers over her head.

"I'll give you two time to wake up." Roman says before exiting the room, Amanda curling her arm around her sore ribs after Finn pulled the covers off of her head.

"Not any better today…" Galina says quietly after Roman walked into the kitchen and hugged the girls before he and his wife hugged.

"Is Auntie Mandy okay?" Sylvia asked after Roman picked her up into his arms.

It wasn't long before two sets of footsteps were heard and Sylvia jumped down and ran to Amanda, the two hugging.

"What do you feel like eating for breakfast, kiddo?" Amanda asked after they let go.

"I don't know… I don't think I want anything hot." Sylvia answered.

"Okay… how about cereal? Chex Mix?" Amanda asks, Sylvia nodding and smiling.

When Sylvia was eating her second bowl of cereal, Amanda had only eaten half of her own breakfast… she normally wasn't picky when it was pancakes but it was easy to see that she was still worried as Finn put his right arm around her shoulders.

Joelle noticed the two next to each other on the couch and whispered to Sylvia.

"Might not be too much longer…" Sylvia whispered back.

"You think?... I think they'd do well- hey, you okay?!" Joelle started to say, the last part as Sylvia hissed and doubled over, her hands braced around her leg.

"Yeah, just… cramped up… ow…" Sylvia managed to say, her hands holding her knee which was just a few inches away from the stitched gash on that leg.

Amanda headed down the hallway, finding the heating pad that was small enough as Finn helped Sylvia to the couch. When the heating pad was on her leg and set to low heat, Sylvia relaxed when she felt the knots in her leg fading away.

"You okay, kiddo?" Amanda asked as Sylvia's tiny right hand curled around Amanda's left one.

"Yeah… just the nerves fixing, right?" Sylvia asked.

"Yeah…" Amanda says, Sylvia noticing the scar on the palm of Amanda's left hand.

But she didn't say anything about it.


	5. Chapter 5: Welcome To The Family

_**A few weeks ago…**_

 _Amanda opened her eyes and as she_ _had anticipated, it was pouring rain outside. Sitting up, a 'crick' echoed from her spine as Finn had walked in, drenched from head to toe._

" _Power's out?" Amanda asked._

" _To be expected in storms like this." Finn said while catching his breath and hanging up his jacket to dry._

" _If it's not raining one day, it's either blistering hot or strangely cold…" Amanda says as she stood up and walked over, helping Finn pull his shirt off but it caught him off guard at first._

" _Someone's playful today." Finn said with a slight chuckle._

" _Hey, you don't need to be getting sick, Finn." Amanda says as she tossed the shirt aside._

 _Finn dried himself off with a towel before looking outside and back at Amanda, who_ _was pretending not to watch him…_ _but he could see the faint redness in her face._

" _Are you lappin' up some cheeky peeks, lassie?" Finn asked, emphasising his accent more than normal in a slight joking manner._

" _Maybe a bit…" Amanda managed to say as her eyes trailed up his body… and Finn would be lying if he said he hadn't done the same to her at times._

 _But neither were sure if it was a strange habit or part of their closeness._

 _Finn reached over and because Amanda's hair was in a ponytail, he could see it clearly… the slight imprint his teeth left in the middle of the night._

" _I… I've really got to control myself…" Finn said as he rested his right hand on Amanda's face._

" _We all have night time habits… we can't fully-" Amanda says before the door was opened downstairs._

" _Which one of you let Enzo borrow my car?!" Sami shouted, Amanda finding her skinny jeans. She looked in the pocket and realised that Enzo had nicked the spare key._

" _That crazy son of a-" Amanda started to say._

" _Language, lass." Finn says, Amanda smiling slightly..._

 **Present time...**

It was a week after settling in with Roman, Galina and Joelle that at an NXT taping, Sylvia was meeting everyone else… with the stitches gone, she jumped onto Enzo's back while talking to him and he laughed.

"Whoa, munchkin." Enzo says, lightly ruffling Sylvia's hair once he was properly holding her.

"I saw one of the matches listed on the poster… is it safe for Auntie Mandy to be at ringside during it?" Sylvia questioned, Enzo knowing she was worried… and he was too as he thought back to earlier…

" _You sure about this, Tiny?" Enzo asked as Amanda adjusted her Balor Club armband._

" _Just because I can't compete tonight doesn't mean I can't be here." Amanda says, Enzo knowing that she was going back into her ways of protecting her mind from the trauma that had happened… so he switched the subject._

" _You and Balor gotten to fucking each other yet?" Enzo asked with a smirk, Amanda swatting his arm._

" _Watch your mouth, what if Sylvia or Joelle heard you? You have no filter, Enzo!" Amanda asked, her face a light red as Enzo laughed._

" _Well I should watch my language…" Enzo says as Amanda stretched her arms, hissing slightly as that had aggravated her healing ribs. "But you do like him and I can see that he likes you."_

" _You've been listening to everyone again, haven't you?" Amanda asks._

" _Not at all… it's just that everyone mutually agrees on it because everyone can see it, you're totally into each other." Enzo says._

" _Yeah… we just… what are we waiting for?" Amanda says, questioning the last part._

" _I think… there's a pacing between people that they have to mutually agree on before it goes down. Sometimes they settle within days, others sometimes take months on end before they can look at each other and then just… just know that it's the right time." Enzo says._

" _Yeah…" Amanda says as the two hug…_

"You zoned out again." Sylvia says, jarring Enzo from his thoughts.

"Sorry, kiddo." Enzo says.

In the other hallway, Amanda was clearing her mind as she normally did… and yelped when she felt an arm snake around her waist, Finn pulling her to him in a playful manner.

"Are you hiding again, what did you do now?" Amanda asked with a laugh.

"Nothing… but I was hiding for a reason." Finn said, his right hand resting on Amanda's left hip.

She looked right into his eyes as his left hand lightly cupped her face… before standing up on her tiptoes and their mouths crashing against each other's.

It was at that moment that Baron Corbin had been clearing his mind and stopped when he saw them, his goddaughter Isabella lightly tugging on his hand.

"Uncle Baron, what are they doing?" Isabella asked.

"Uhh… grown-up's tickles." Baron answered before quickly tugging Isabella along in the other direction.

When the kiss between Finn and Amanda stopped, Amanda saw the little blonde haired child quickly retreating with her godfather.

"Something tells me Corey's gonna get a lot of curious questions from his daughter…" Amanda says, feeling slightly embarrassed.

At the same time, Corey was talking to Sylvia when Baron and Isabella walked into the room.

"Uncle said that Mandy and Finny were having adult tickles, I've never heard of those. Are they just more rough than you do to us little ones, Daddy?" Isabella asked, completely missing the point of truth through her innocence but Corey picked it up instantly.

"Well… it's more like you and your siblings seeing me and Mommy kiss, kiddo…" Corey says, Isabella smiling. "Stay here with Uncle Baron and Sylvia, okay?"

Corey kissed her on her forehead and went into the hallway, finding them.

"We're so sorry, we didn't think that anyone was…" Amanda says, starting to ramble but Corey calmed his friend down.

"It's okay, Mandy." Corey says.

"So she's not freaking out?" Amanda asks.

"Luckily, she didn't pick up on it and thinks it was just rougher tickles that we adults do, but would hurt smaller people like herself. Baron saved that one." Corey says.

"Good on him…" Finn says, Amanda's left hand still in his right one and Corey noticing that the two hadn't let go.

Corey decided to let them be, Finn and Amanda kissing again and his lips lightly trailing down her neck and teeth resting on the faint scar he left behind a few weeks ago.

"Take your batteries out, you damn energizer bunnies!"

Both looked, seeing a smirking Bayley as their faces went a light shade of red.

But they weren't aware of who else was watching...


End file.
